Sandwiches for Spartans: Fans get fed before big game

If the student section at Tuesday night's Michigan State basketball game seemed to have a bit more energy than usual, a former Madison Heights man and $1,000 worth of sandwiches may have played a role.

Alan Heath, who works with advertising teams for Digital First Media -- parent company of The Oakland Press -- set plans in motion Monday night for a large food order for students standing in line for student section (Izzone) tickets for Tuesday night's game against the No. 1 ranked Indiana Hoosiers.

Those plans led to an order of more than $1,000 worth of sandwiches from a local Jimmy John's. The sandwiches were then delivered to Spartan students waiting in line for tickets to the game.

Heath, a former Madison Heights resident who attended Michigan State University, said the plan was initially hatched on a Michigan State message board last week in an effort to feed students before the rivalry game against Michigan, but ultimately those plans fell through.

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This time, "I said 'I'll start the pot up,'" Heath said. He and some friends contributed some money, and when Heath went to bed Monday night the total was about $600. The number ballooned to about $1,000 by Tuesday morning.

Heath, who works in Yardley, Pa., called an East Lansing Jimmy John's to make sure the store could handle the order of about 200 sandwiches. After a brief wait, he was told that the store was capable of handling the order, and a friend that still lives near the Michigan State campus delivered the sandwiches to the students.

"The big reason I really got behind this (Monday) night is I graduated in 2001," Heath said.

"I was lucky enough to be there when MSU was really coming into its own, the golden era, if you will."

The school advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season in 2001, a year after enjoying a national championship.

"I remember wen I was a student what it was like -- the Izzone being absolute pandemonium every night," Heath said.

"Watching that Michigan game last Tuesday, I was totally taken back to what it was like. It totally transported me back to what it was like when I was a student."

After seeing the inspired performance that the student section put on last week, Heath wanted to send a message.

"I wanted to keep them motivated, let them know a lot of the old Izzone members are behind them," he said.

"Not that they need it, but whatever more motivation we can give them to make it a snakepit for IU."

Heath envisioned a tight game Tuesday night.

"It's going to be a tough one," he said hours before tipoff.

"It's going to be real tough. (Keith) Appling didn't have a huge game last time. I think he's going to have a good game. I think that's important.